Forestry Support Program (FSP) is designed to provide a formal stepwise approach for forestry companies to meet requirements for certification under Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or PEFC Certification requirements. GFS provides continual technical support under a 3-stage approach to define gaps in the current system; assist in the development of management planning and operational procedures then support implementation and monitoring of the management system.
Forestry Support Program consists of 3 main steps and can be conducted in conjunction with the requirements of national standards and ISO 14001 standard on environmental management systems.

Baseline assessment of current system

Technical support on forest management planning

Technical support on implementation

Step 1 : Baseline Assessment: (Approximate time frame 2-4 weeks)

Involves evaluation of of the organization relative to the requirements of FSC (and additional standards as required by the client) with the assessment of existing documentation and forest management practices. The main purpose is to identify the significant environmental aspects of the organization and the “gaps” or deficiencies in terms of management systems that need to be fulfilled against the requirements of FSC (& national standards if applicable). An Action Plan is developed and agreed for specific actions to be taken to address each GAP within an agreed time frame as part of the development of a forest management system.

A Statement of Participation is issued to the Forestry Company following its agreement with the Action Plan, Audit Schedule and financial proposal.

The initial step in the development of a management system is a 3-day training workshop to staff on the understanding of the relevant certification standards and requirements. This is to ensure all relevant staff and other personnel are fully prepared to design, develop and implement the system. Training can also be provided to staff on techniques of establishing a system of documentation and control to meet the ISO 14001 standard or national standard.

Training on management planning & operational systems:GFS will provide a series of technical training modules that will include:

Forest Inventory systems.

Environmental & Social Assessment./li>

Management planning in report to long term management planning as well as operational harvest planning.

Reduced Impact Logging (RIL) systems.

Operational monitoring / growth monitoring and stand development.

Environmental and social monitoring systems.

Development of procedural systems.

Step 3: Field ImplementationAuditing Implementation:

Progress of field implementation will be audited in accordance to the agreed schedule to verify continual stepwise improvement in field operations towards addressing the gaps identified in the Baseline Assessment. GFS will provide an audit report for each progress audit.

The FSP is designed as part of the FSC modular Approach Program to provide third party verification of progress in addressing GAPs and demonstrating progress to meet FSC standard according to the Action Plan.